


Worth

by biblionerd07



Category: Breaking Bad
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-07
Updated: 2013-12-07
Packaged: 2018-01-03 21:03:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,786
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1073026
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/biblionerd07/pseuds/biblionerd07
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>For a prompt on the kink meme.  Walt and Jesse are in the middle of a business meeting when a former student of Walt's and classmate of Jesse's sees them together and they have to find an explanation.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Worth

**Author's Note:**

> This turned out a lot more Walt/Jesse friendship or father/son that I'd planned, but what can I say? It's how my brain works.

Jesse slides into the booth, late again. _As always_ , Walt thinks disapprovingly. Jesse’s always been chronically tardy, including high school, though Walt suspects that was purposeful while now it’s simply a lack of awareness.

“Sorry, sorry.” Jesse says before Walt can say anything, and it appeases Walt’s annoyance. He waves a hand in a don’t worry about it manner.

“So what’s up?” Walt asks, because Jesse had been the one to set up this meet. Walt thinks back to the time, in the early days, when Jesse had shown up at his house, asking to debrief. They’ve gone quite a ways since then.

“I don’t know if we should, ah…” Jesse glances around and drops his voice. “ _Expand_ our operation this way.”

Walt frowns, quickly shooting a glance over each shoulder. “I thought we agreed to a wider radius.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know, but like…look, it seems a little dangerous.” Jesse bites his lip.

“Are your guys nervous?”

“A little, yeah. But, man, it’s more me. I’m thinking about it and, like, we’re doing fine where we are.”

“ _Fine_?” Walt hisses. “I don’t want to do fine.”

“Yo, Mr. White, I know, but we can’t just rush—”

“Mr. White?” A chirpy young-woman voice almost gives Walt a heart attack. Jesse’s shoulders immediately hunch and he looks down at the table.

“Oh, hello there, Sarah.” Walt prides himself on remembering his students, and it was easy to remember her anyway—she’d been top of her class, valedictorian, offered tutoring to her classmates, and always stayed after class to help him clean up.

“Oh, Mr. White, it’s been years!” She gushes with a huge smile. Her smile slips a little as she adds, “I heard about…” She gestures vaguely and Walt nods.

“Yes, cancer.” He can’t help but feel a little annoyed. The girl had gotten a full ride to UC-Berkley and she couldn’t use the word _cancer_?

“I’m so sorry.” She frowns sympathetically, and Walt knows it’s sincere but he’s still irritated. He chalks it up to almost being heard discussing a drug operation in a Denny’s by an innocent former student. Her eyes slide across the table to Jesse and Walt remembers they were the same grade, though Jesse had taken his class as a junior and Sarah as a freshman—typical high-achiever, ahead of her grade level.

“Jesse Pinkman?” She asks in the most mystified voice Walt has ever heard, her eyes flicking back and forth between them, and it could almost be comical if not for the fact that their business is meth and the judgment is practically dripping from her voice.

“Hey.” Jesse raises his chin at her, shooting Walt a wide-eyed look as he drops his eyes back to the table.

“I thought you were in jail.” She says disdainfully, and the flash of hurt in Jesse’s eyes before he can cover it up makes Walt’s lip curl angrily. Sure, Jesse can be careless, even idiotic sometimes, but that didn’t mean everyone had free license to be rude to him, especially one of his peers who probably hadn’t spoken to him in years. Little did she know Jesse had thousands of dollars at his disposal and would absolutely be in the millions soon.

Not that Walt can point that out.

“Nah, not me.” Jesse adopts his arrogant voice that he uses when he’s upset and pretending not to care, lounges in the booth and puts on a truly spectacular show of looking completely nonchalant. He grins a little and bites his lip, raises an eyebrow, and Sarah frowns but Walt can see the bright blush breaking across her cheeks. Walt’s never thought about Jesse’s seduction tactics before, but it seems he’s getting a full show now. He feels a little uncomfortable.

“Jesse has a flourishing…business.” Walt finishes lamely. It wasn’t like him to speak without thinking. Jesse smirks and laughs almost imperceptibly.

“Oh, yeah, _flourishing_ ,” Jesse repeats, pointing his baby blues at Sarah, and somehow just looking at her is flirtatious. Walt has to admit he’s a little floored, though he knows he shouldn’t be. After all, when he first became reacquainted with Jesse, the younger man had clearly been in the middle of quite a successful rendezvous.

“Really?” Sarah is struggling to stay on her high horse but her voice is higher than normal and she’s almost unconsciously leaning toward Jesse. “What kind of business?”

Jesse quirks an eyebrow at Walt. “Nothing special.” He says with a cocky grin. “Production and sales, mostly.” He’s cracking up inside, Walt can tell, but he’s keeping his cool.

“Jesse is very talented.” Walt says with a nod, and Jesse’s smile becomes shyly excited for a second before he gets himself back into his act. Walt wonders why Jesse’s being so flirtatious to this girl. Wasn’t he dating that girl who lived next door? Walt tries to think of her name; maybe it was June. No, not June—Jane.

“Is that why you’re here together? Are you buying something from him?” Sarah asks, and Walt gapes awkwardly for a second, not sure how to explain his presence with the boy Sarah remembers as a deadbeat who barely graduated.

“Mr. White helps with production.” Jesse says, practically laughing out loud again. “We use some pretty intense chemical processes and Mr. White knows his _chemistry_.”

Sarah doesn’t even spare a glance toward Walt, because Jesse is licking his lips now and she hasn’t blinked in probably two full minutes. Walt wonders if he should leave the two of them alone.

“Uh huh.” Sarah says breathlessly, watching Jesse’s tongue.

“Maybe sometime I can show you around my warehouse.” Jesse’s voice is low and gravelly as he leans toward Sarah and Walt feels seriously awkward. He’s not sure where to look. He’s suddenly back in high school, the nerd trying to hang around the cool kids and getting left in the dark every time.

Walt clears his throat and Sarah practically jumps. She finally tears her eyes away from Jesse and looks at Walt guiltily.

“I’m sorry for interrupting your meeting.” She says, backing away, pointedly not looking at Jesse. “It’s good to see you, Mr. White.”

“You too, Sarah.” Walt smiles cheerfully.

“See ya, _Sarah_.” Jesse leans back in the booth again and Sarah glances at him once before practically running out of the diner, bumping into a chair on her way. Once the door closes behind her, Jesse collapses onto the table in giggles.

“Oh my God!” He gasps. “That was hilarious.”

“What the hell was that?” Walt asks, still a little irritated. “I thought you were dating your landlord.” At that, Jesse sits up, looking chagrined.

“Yeah, I am. Jane. And she’s great, man; I mean, really, she is. I want to spend every second with her. I was never actually gonna do anything with Sarah. But how the hell do you think that girl was going to believe I’m a businessman if her brain’s actually working? I had to mess with her head.”

Walt stares at Jesse. “That was a…tactical decision?”

Jesse snorts. “Look, I may not be good at a lot of things other than cooking, but I can use my pretty face when I need to.” His smirk turns almost to a grimace. “You have to use what you have when you don’t have a lot to offer.” His voice is faintly bitter and Walt feels the same annoyance he’d felt when Sarah had insulted Jesse.

“Well, it was very clever.” Walt says, and he’s not even lying. It was. Jesse won’t meet his eyes, not sure he’s ready to believe Walt’s actually complimenting him, but Walt can see a hesitant smile biting at Jesse’s lips.

“Yeah, well.” He shrugs. “I know she had a crush on me in high school, so I used that. I asked her out once, to like some sophomore prom, you know? But a girl like her obviously wasn’t going to come near _me_ with a ten-foot pole.”

“Why?” The question slips out before Walt can stop it and Jesse rolls his eyes.

“Real funny, Mr. White.” He mutters. He looks out the window now, so he doesn’t have to look at Walt, and Walt feels a pang. He isn’t making fun of Jesse. He’s actually grown to—dare he say it—respect Jesse, and sometimes he forgets not everyone knows the deeper layers of Jesse.

Walt wonders what Jesse’s life would have been like if people had cared about him more. He’s pieced together enough from what Jesse’s said about his home life to know his parents had grown frustrated with him at an early age and had all but given up by the time Jesse had reached high school. What if Walt had taken more interest? What if Walt had asked him to stay after class once to talk about _Jesse_ , not just how supremely he was flunking? What if Walt had seen through Jesse’s cocky façade and noticed the sensitive boy who needed some help? Would Jesse have been the past student who excitedly came over to talk to Walt in a diner?

Jesse’s leaning his chin on one hand, still looking out the window and pretending he doesn’t care about anything, and Walt feels a sadness he can’t quite name and doesn’t know how to cure. Jesse’s still so young and already he thinks his prospects are over. When Walt had been that age he’d been full of opportunity, felt like he could take on the world. Suggesting Jesse do anything other than illegal business seemed condescending and trite.

“Do you want to order a Grand Slam?” Walt blurts, not sure why he’s asking. Jesse doesn’t need Walt to buy him things, and an omelet and some hash browns won’t fix Jesse’s life, won’t give him hope. But it seems to be the only thing Walt can offer.

Jesse looks confused and shrugs. “Okay?” He says uncertainly.

“And some pie?”

A little bit of understanding dawns in Jesse’s eyes and Walt’s sure he’s going to get angry, because Jesse doesn’t like handouts and he certainly doesn’t want Walt’s pity, but instead Jesse rolls his eyes with a little smile.

“Mr. White, are you trying to get me to _eat my feelings_ or some shit like that?”

Walt laughs a little, unsure what else to say. “Pie never hurt anyone.” He says with a shrug, and Jesse laughs too.

“Alright, pie.” Jesse catches the waitress’s eye.

“I really think you can have any kind of girl you want, son.” Walt says quietly as the waitress makes their way over to them, and Jesse blinks a few times. He doesn’t say anything, but Walt notices he’s smiling through every bite of his pie.


End file.
